Coinbase acquires Keystone Capital to become a regulated broker-dealer

” Ultimately, we can envision a world where we may even work with regulators to tokenize existing types of securities, bringing to this space the benefits of cryptocurrency-based markets — like 24/7 trading, real-time settlement, and chain-of-title,” Hirji said.

Coinbase, which has traded $150 billion in assets across more than 20 million customers, has been plowing money back into areas other than its flagship exchange.

In April, the company bought Earn.com for a reported $100 million, which lets users send and receive digital currency for replying to mass-market emails and completing micro tasks. As part of the acquisition, the crypto company will bring on Earn’s founder and CEO, a former Andreessen Horowitz venture capitalist, as its first-ever chief technology officer.

Coinbase reportedly valued itself at about $8 billion when it set out to buy Earn.com, according to Recode, much higher than a valuation of $1.6 billion at its last round of venture capitalist financing in summer 2017.

In May, the company announced a fleet of products to cater to the institutional investor class, which has been especially cautious to dive into what has been a volatile asset class.

Coinbase launched an index fund in March, and a month later launched Coinbase Ventures, an incubator fund for early-stage start-ups working in cryptocurrencies and blockchain. It has $15 million geared up for investments and recently announced its first deal with start-up Compound, which lets you lend or borrow cryptocurrency and earn an interest rate.